Proverbs 3:6 – Logically Impossible to Follow as a Jehovah’s Witness
“Trust in Jehovah with all your heart and do not lean upon your own understanding”
How does one “trust in Jehovah with all his heart” in the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses?
Witnesses will often become aggressively defensive when accused of following their leaders, The Faithful and Discreet Slave, blindly.
The scripture above REQUIRES the members to blindly follow the Governing Body.
The Watchtower doctrine has no clear line between what and how Jehovah wants of you and what the Watchtower teaches.
If what the Watchtower taught only went through minor revisions since it’s inception, then it would be logical to call their ideas, Jehovah’s and the Watchtower’s, close enough to say that by trusting in the Watchtower you are trusting in Jehovah.
Yet this is not the case. The Watchtower has changed CORE doctrine many times since it’s inception. This means that what they were calling “Bible Truth” and “what God requires of you” have been ever changing for over 100 years.
Therefore every member is forced to make a logical distinction between the Watchtower and the God they worship.
The fact that this logical distinction exists invalidates any claim of absolute authority that the leaders try to enforce.
The absolute authority, according to the Bible, is Jehovah. And given the Governing Body’s track record they cannot be followed to a tee and personal understanding must come into play to make an informed decision about matters of the faith.
The April 1 st 1986 Question From Readers states this:
Approved association with Jehovah’s Witnesses requires accepting the entire range of the true teachings of the Bible, including those Scriptural beliefs that are unique to Jehovah’s Witnesses. What do such beliefs include?
…That there is a “faithful and discreet slave” upon earth today ‘entrusted with all of Jesus’ earthly interests,’ which slave is associated with the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses…
Notice the bolding on my part. Being ‘entrusted with ALL of Jesus’ earthly interests’ means they Jesus has given them absolute authority.
As a Jehovah’s Witness you are highly encouraged to cut off anyone who does not fully comply with this arrangement… that is how serious they take their authority.
That being said, how is it possible for a Jehovah’s Witness NOT to lean on understanding outside of the Faithful and Discreet Slave when what they are currently teaching could be not in their best spiritual interests?
As Witnesses consistently repeat, you cannot slave for two masters. The reason being that at one point the two master’s commands are going to clash.
Jehovah’s commands of the Bible and Faithful and Discreet Slave’s commands have clashed for over a century now and yet, somehow, the Governing Body still has the audacity to claim things like this in the Watchtower November 15 th 2009 Article entitled: Treasure Your Place in the Organization:
…By word or action, may we never challenge the channel of communication that Jehovah is using today. (Num. 16:1-3) On the contrary, we should cherish our privilege to cooperate with the slave class…
Do they deserve such respect? So much respect that you would not even utter a challenge, ever, to what they have to say? Did ANY of God’s representatives receive such positions requiring such unquestioning loyalty?
Now back to the main point. How does a Jehovah’s Witness reconcile these audacious commands from the Governing Body? How do they follow Proverbs 3:6 in this regard? How far are they willing to go and keep saying “I will trust in Jehovah, and that means trusting the Faithful and Discreet Slave.”?
This is a hard mental state to be in and is a classic Catch 22. Do you lean on your own understanding and break the Code of The Governing Body, or do you follow your gut, and further educate yourself about other inconsistancies in the Watchtower Organization.
I feel you owe it to yourself to know everything about a Organization before you devote, or continue to devote, the rest of your life to it.
-Sab